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Page added on January 22, 2016
The Peak Oil Crisis: Return of the Hydrino
For several years, I have been tracking the progress of company run by Randell Mills up in Cranbury, New Jersey that has been working to develop a new source of energy that could replace all other sources of energy currently in use. Mills, his associates, and outsider verifiers say he has discovered a lower energy state of hydrogen, which he calls a hydrino. Hydrinos can be created by zapping the hydrogen in water with a jolt of electricity when the water is mixed into a catalyst which can accept the released energy. This reaction turns the hydrogen atoms into hydrino atoms while at the same time emitting massive amounts of energy in the form of light which then can be converted into electricity using solar cell technology.
Nobody doubts that lowering the orbit of an electron around the nucleus of a hydrogen atom would in theory release substantial amounts of energy; most that understand current theories of chemistry, however, doubt that a stable lower energy form of hydrogen can exist. Thus for many years there has been nearly universal skepticism about Mills’ claims. If a stable form of hydrogen actually exists, and this form of the element is what Mills says is the dark matter so prevalent in the universe, then the rest of the science is rather straight forward and makes sense as a source of energy. Accepted chemical theory says that lowering an electron’s orbit around an atom gives off energy, and nobody who has ever seen a solar panel has trouble accepting that light can be turned into electricity. The problem may well be that the whole notion that there could be a new source of cheap, non-polluting energy sounds too good to be true.
Keep in mind that Mill’s operation, now called Brilliant Light Power, is not a loan inventor in his garage. Mills was educated at Harvard and MIT; has been working this project for 25 years; has raised $100 million from Wall Street to fund his development costs; has some 30 scientists and engineers working in his 53,000 sq. ft. research lab; has a number of contractors working on prototypes; and has been issued numerous patents on his technology. Before jumping to any premature conclusions about whether or not he might have actually discovered a new source of energy, reflect for a moment on what the Wright Brothers managed to initiate from a bicycle shop.
Mills, as is Andrea Rossi and others working on exotic sources of energy in the face of much mostly ill-informed skepticism, is taking what we might call the “Wright Brothers” approach to introducing their technology to the world. They are simply building working prototypes and then let the skeptics try to prove they don’t work as claimed. How many still doubted the Wright Brothers after watching an airplane circling over their heads?
Ok, so where are we on Mill’s working prototypes that, if they can produce electricity cheaply and reliably enough, obviously will sell like hotcakes. In 2014 Mills put on two semi-public demonstrations showing the progress he had made in perfecting his technology. The centerpiece of his presentation was showing a device that can make flashes of very bright light from a water/catalyst mixture, and that this light could be converted into electricity which would run flashing lights. At the time his reactions could only be triggered relatively slowly so that his next goal was to develop an improved model that could produce a rapid stream of reactions which would provide a steady and reliable flow of electricity. At the time he showed drawings of what such a device would look like and explained how it would function. He suggested that such a device might be ready for public display in six months or so.
It is now 18 months later — complicated technologies obviously take time to perfect — and Mills apparently has come up with a completely new design for an electricity generating device. He recently announced that there will be a public demonstration (with limited seating in his laboratory) on January 28th. From the documents he has posted on his web site, it appears that the new prototype will not as yet take us all the way to making electricity, but may provide a continuous source of high intensity light from a stream of reactions that turns water into hydrinos and recycles the catalyst. Piping the newly generated light into photo cells would be the last step, but this is not controversial technology for today’s science.
In his published business plan, Mills makes the claim that “performance to date indicates that the “SunCell” [his name for the device] is capable of rapid displacement of fuels, power sources, and infrastructure due to its superior performance, lower costs, lack of pollutant by-products, and use of existing mass produced components.” Now, this is obviously a very extravagant claim that most would simply laugh at – until proven true. However, we should keep in mind that discoveries are made from time to time, and new things do get invented. Remember what has happened in the last 150 years — internal combustion, electricity, electronics, aviation, and DNA to name a few. We know there are immense quantities of energy locked inside matter and we already know and use two ways of releasing it. Why on earth should anybody think there are not other ways to release this energy.
So far nobody has proved Mills and his hydrino thesis wrong; they have simply said, without knowing much about it, that it is too far-fetched to be believed. However, in a few days, Mills may be demonstrating a working prototype. In a few years he may be offering products for sale or lease that produce clean, cheap energy. If there is anything the world desperately needs right now it is a technology that will disrupt the fossil fuels industry and will give us cheap, non-polluting energy source to replace it. This would not only reinvigorate the moribund global economy but could even prevent some of the direst predictions of what global warming will do to civilization.
48 Comments on "The Peak Oil Crisis: Return of the Hydrino"
Davy on Fri, 22nd Jan 2016 6:35 am
The technology is irrelevant because scale is relevant. We are systematically in a descent momentum. We have not the time to transition billions of people nor the resources. We are stuck with what we have and what little more we can build out. The economy is imploding over months and the dead state of oil is just a few years down the road. ANY kind of transition would take 10-20 years in the best of circumstances. We are in bad circumstances. The appeal of technology as a savior will continue until the last sucker is born.
Lawfish1964 on Fri, 22nd Jan 2016 6:45 am
Too many “mays” and “coulds” in this article. Typical corn-porn.
Nony on Fri, 22nd Jan 2016 7:44 am
Complete and utter bullshit. This guy has been running a tease since at least the 1990s. Just ignore him. Don’t fall for it. It is worse than cold fusion crap.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brilliant_Light_Power
There’s no theoretical reason for a lower energy level of hydrogen and no reliable proof of his effect. More horse crap with him wanting to show another demonstration under controlled conditions without critical observers. Complete crap.
I had someone want me to get involved with this crap 10 years ago. Said no, it is crap. Look where they are 10 years later. Still pulling the same shit about “demonstrations”, still no proof of their effect, still self-published.
Be careful doomer-peakers that you don’t end up like this nutter yourselves. Some of the articles you publish show a nutter tendency.
shortonoil on Fri, 22nd Jan 2016 7:56 am
“If there is anything the world desperately needs right now it is a technology that will disrupt the fossil fuels industry and will give us cheap, non-polluting energy source to replace it.”
Tom is certainly correct with that statement. The production of petroleum, and its products is now consuming more wealth than it is generating. The age of oil is coming to a close, and the world needs something else fill the vacuum. The problem is: we needed it 30 years ago!
http://www.thehillsgroup.org/
marmico on Fri, 22nd Jan 2016 8:43 am
The production of petroleum, and its products is now consuming more wealth than it is generating.
The quart shy oil has been running this tease for 18 months. Cite credible empirical evidence that it takes 48,900 Btus to refine one gallon of oil.
Be careful doomer-peakers that you don’t end up like this nutter yourselves
shortonoil on Fri, 22nd Jan 2016 10:35 am
“Cite credible empirical evidence that it takes 48,900 Btus to refine one gallon of oil.”
Go to Section 10, page 49 of our report, “Depletion: A determination for world’s petroleum reserve” and you will find the reference to the EIA study that validates that conclusion. But, of course you already know that because you have the value 48,900 BTU. You are surely a waste of good air. Now take the nickel that you earned from that post, go back to your mothers basement and do what ever sick little trolls do.
Go Speed Racer on Fri, 22nd Jan 2016 11:15 am
Support Hydrino Power. Your donation will make the difference. Call now. Operators are standing by.
steam_cannon on Fri, 22nd Jan 2016 11:20 am
I’ve been watching Mills over the years too. I think the hydrino stuff is either a long running scam or something more interesting. It would be a lot of fun if it’s something more interesting. The stumbling point though is the whole problem of lower ground states not fitting models because that is a very compelling and reasonable argument against the hydrino.
But…
Ignoring Mills explanation for what’s going on and just arm-chairing here, I still don’t fully rule out something like a hydrino being possible. It would require an extraordinary process much like the “Wisdom Larson” Cold Fusion LENR explanation of low energy neutron capture, which is an explanation of LENR I find fairly plausible. The hydrino too would require a similarly extraordinary process.
What would an extraordinary process to produce a hydrino look like? Well lets think outside the box. Let’s take that image of an atom you have in your head and break it a little. For example, I was thinking about this article “Simulations slice an electron in half, a physical process that cannot be done in nature.” As far as we know you can’t split an electron outside of a computer simulation, but the reason for that simulation research is so we would know what to look for if it ever happens. In the simulation they split the electron in an ultra-cold simulated quantum fluid. That’s a pretty exotic environment. But if a half electron can exist in the real world, then there might be several ways to achieve that besides in a quantum fluid, such as if there was a virtual particle exchange process that could cause an electron to split. But how to split an electron is a separate issue.
Running with that idea that an electron can be split, the results might look an awful lot like Mills process. We might have energy released as it joins with a regular atom, perhaps kicking out an electron from it’s stable orbit and the resulting electron-like particle might then live in a lower then ground state orbit.
That’s just a guess. But if half an electron could exist and orbit a nucleus, that wouldn’t violate known behaviors of electron ground states because it’s not exactly an electron at that point. And then the whole ideas of fractional ground states that Mills is pushing doesn’t sound so far out.
So I’m just arm-chairing here. Whatever. But I’m not totally against the idea of the hydrino, I’d need to see some extraordinary proof like anyone. But from my armchair, I think there’s still some wiggle room in atomic theory and there might be some new and interesting ways you can get atoms to interact. But I don’t think a hydrino like particle could happen with normal atoms.
ghung on Fri, 22nd Jan 2016 11:45 am
http://goodmath.scientopia.org/2014/01/14/the-latest-update-in-the-hydrino-saga/
diemos on Fri, 22nd Jan 2016 11:54 am
Yup. Any … day … now.
But you’ve got to admire his ability to run a 25 year $100 million con.
marmico on Fri, 22nd Jan 2016 12:10 pm
The self described mechanical genius quart shy of oil continues to manufacture his own toilet paper to wipe the shit off his face.
What you are referencing is energy intensity per dollar of output, not energy intensity per Btu of input.
Refinery EROI is ~15,000 Btus per gallon of oil.
The ETP model fails empirically.
Go back to the drawing board for further deliberation and remember your nutter projection from July 6, 2005.
Non-OPEC production is falling at 3% per year and accelerating by 1% per year. If total world production follows the same pattern, which it probably will, once PO starts, probably this year, world production will fall by 55% in ten years. At that rate in fifteen years the only place you will find a car will be in the Smithsonian. If it still exists?
Bob Owens on Fri, 22nd Jan 2016 12:42 pm
Label me a complete sceptic on this one. It’s too much like perpetual motion machines which have been scamming people for over 100 years. If such an effect were possible it would have been discovered by now by the legions of physicists that have been running cyclotrons for the past 100 years.
Apneaman on Fri, 22nd Jan 2016 1:42 pm
marmi remembers what short said on July 6, 2005. 10 1/2 years he’s been waiting to throw shorts words in his face. It’s good to have a purpose for your life marmi. Are you some kind of peak oil celebrity stalker? Whose the nutter here?
Apneaman on Fri, 22nd Jan 2016 1:49 pm
marmi has spent his entire adult life “cyber stalking”, Robert Rapier, Geoffrey Brown, David Hughes, shortonoil et al peak bloggers. Reminds me of the harassment strategy by the “security” goons/true believers from the church of Scientology. Whose the nutter here?
shortonoil on Fri, 22nd Jan 2016 2:00 pm
“Label me a complete sceptic on this one. It’s too much like perpetual motion machines which have been scamming people for over 100 years.”
The same thing could have been said about the Higgs Boson, but it turned out to be real. Now we are stuck with a field that permeates the universe, and gives mass to matter. The universe is stranger than we can image.
shortonoil on Fri, 22nd Jan 2016 2:09 pm
“marmi has spent his entire adult life “cyber stalking”, Robert Rapier, Geoffrey Brown, David Hughes, shortonoil et al peak bloggers.”
If marm could budget his finances a little better, he wouldn’t need all those nickels they pay him everyday, and he could take a break once in a while. It’ probably a drinking problem?
GregT on Fri, 22nd Jan 2016 3:31 pm
“Go to Section 10, page 49 of our report, “Depletion: A determination for world’s petroleum reserve” and you will find the reference to the EIA study that validates that conclusion. But, of course you already know that because you have the value 48,900 BTU.”
Strange, that marmi has a copy of your report short. I wonder who paid for it…………
steam_cannon on Fri, 22nd Jan 2016 3:45 pm
http://goodmath.scientopia.org/2014/01/14/the-latest-update-in-the-hydrino-saga/
Regarding that article:
It’s a good article, though the discussion at the end is better. The first part of that article the argument seems to be about how blacklight was wrong to compare energy density of nuclear-like energy to gasoline and ya know, I don’t care, that’s irrelevant as an argument to me. The article is starting with a really weak argument trying to pick it apart some bad marketing. So half of the page is just wasted space. However I think criticisms of the company history are reasonable and the discussion is good.
Bob, it’s cool to be skeptical and you should say you think this is BS if that’s what you think. My own thoughts though, “perpetual motion machines”, people have argued against splitting the atom and airplanes, lighting creating streams of neutrons, all with the same logic that somebody would have discovered it by now. Honestly we live in a world with many cosmologically huge unknowns still, the nature of dark matter, the lithium-7 problem.
And most perpetual motion machines don’t suggest other scientific possibilities. The hydrino could be an explanation for a the dark matter problem, which is a 90% unknown mass of the universe, dark matter is a really big unknown and there are many fascinating competing theories right now. LENR would be an explanation of the Lithium-7 problem, we have a lot less of that element in the universe then there should be. So there are still huge cosmological scale questions to be answered. It interests me when I see secondary implications to an idea. Perpetual motions scams usually don’t offer much in terms of secondary implications.
I think the right questions about the hydrino are “can such a process happen”, “what changes to theory or expectations would have to happen for it to happen”, “are those changes non-scienticic, like require ghosts, or would they be following rules” and “if such changes were possible what would it look like”.
If half electrons were a thing and combined with a proton, my first thought is it would look like a hydrino. That’s just my armchair-theory, but I could see that being a thing.
Splitting atoms is a thing, that was disbelieved. Lightning interacting with air and releasing neutrons is another fun discovery, that I recall faced skepticism too. LENR low energy neutron capture is starting to look like a strong possibility, but most scientists are still skeptical about accepting LENR as a possibility. Myself, I can imagine splitting the electron or creating a half virtual electron as being a possibility, I don’t know, but at this point something funky like that just wouldn’t surprise me.
Anyway, I like this and I’m placing my bets on either they have discovered something cool like a split half charge electron or they are creating epic BS. Either way, very fun stuff!
Kevin Cobley on Fri, 22nd Jan 2016 5:31 pm
I’m still trying to sell my Dilithium.
steam_cannon on Fri, 22nd Jan 2016 5:51 pm
“I’m still trying to sell my Dilithium.”
Cool! Can I trade you it’s weight in tungsten + cold neutrons? Lol
http://www.prlog.org/11927878-lenr-transmutation-discovery-could-result-in-decline-in-gold-prices.html
Boat on Fri, 22nd Jan 2016 5:59 pm
When short and all his doomers buddies see when day when the billion or so growth in oil consumption continues, finally eats up the glut and prices raise once again we will have much less to talk about. All of this happening without a world economic crash. New peaks of conventional oil will happen along the way. Geeze, I will miss all this wild speculation.
makati1 on Fri, 22nd Jan 2016 6:07 pm
Desperation brings out the freaks doesn’t it? LOL
shortonoil on Fri, 22nd Jan 2016 6:19 pm
“Strange, that marmi has a copy of your report short. I wonder who paid for it…………”
He may have picked up a copy over at the Etp Model Questions & Answers forum. If you would like one send me a note from the comment section at the site, with your handle, and send you a link to download it.
http://www.thehillsgroup.org/
shortonoil on Fri, 22nd Jan 2016 6:29 pm
“When short and all his doomers buddies see when day when the billion or so growth in oil consumption continues, finally eats up the glut and prices raise once again we will have much less to talk about.”
When that day comes you’ll be too busy trying to roast mealy worms for your diner to talk about anything.
Apneaman on Fri, 22nd Jan 2016 6:30 pm
Boat, your beloved markets have been off to a great start in 2016 – worst in history – ever. How much have you lost so far boaty? The worse the news, the grander your claims of a bright future. Your pattern is obvious boat. I wonder if you are aware that you’re doing it?
Apneaman on Fri, 22nd Jan 2016 6:38 pm
boat, not looking good for the home team.
Southwestern Energy To Slash 1,100 Jobs
More than a quarter of the job cuts will fall on the natural gas company’s Houston headquarters.
http://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/2016/01/21/134992/southwestern-energy-to-slash-1100-jobs/
Apneaman on Fri, 22nd Jan 2016 6:41 pm
The Recession As Seen In Houston, Texas
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-22/recession-seen-houston-texas
Boat on Fri, 22nd Jan 2016 7:47 pm
My money to markets has been on the upswing for some time now. Low interest and low energy prices are the reason. I haven’t taken the time to check out how oil is affection Houston. I should though. Maybe this weekend.
Have you seen a market chart for the last 30 years? Looks like it’d be doing fine to me. If you need that money within 10 years it should not be in the market. Fundamental 101. I am just fine. Thanks for your concern.
twocats on Fri, 22nd Jan 2016 9:02 pm
My money to markets has been on the upswing for some time now. Low interest and low energy prices are the reason. [boat]
so you’re saying you’ve put a lot of money in the markets for a while now. that’s good on you, but that doesn’t say anything about the recent performance of the market and the recent vaporization of a pretty big chunk of QE gains. I will agree that QE did juice markets, why it was even a bigger transfer of wealth than Boat’s cheap oil lines our pockets trope!
Boat on Fri, 22nd Jan 2016 10:20 pm
twocats,
Quantitative easing was a blessing to me personally. Interests rates at 4.5% equals hundreds of savings per month vrs 7.28. Car loans are very cheap at this time. More savings. I just don’t need the money to survive so I invest it. As I told the apeman never put money in the market if you think you may need it within 10 years. Investing fundamental 101.
When interests were high I put any extra money on the house or car. Times have changed and so did my strategy.
GregT on Fri, 22nd Jan 2016 10:36 pm
Boat,
QE to the economy would be liken to you taking out a third mortgage on your already bank owned home, to bye another Porsche, in order to keep up the appearances that your company is doing fine, when it is actually bankrupt. You Boat, would be one of the idiots investing in that already bankrupt company.
GregT on Fri, 22nd Jan 2016 11:40 pm
Buy, my bad.
Apneaman on Sat, 23rd Jan 2016 3:07 am
Investing fundamental 101? You must have missed that chapter on sheep borrowing cheap money to invest/speculate in the 1920’s. It did not end well. Of course this time is different.
marmico on Sat, 23rd Jan 2016 4:16 am
Are you some kind of peak oil celebrity stalker?
Nah, just seeking evidence that the quart shy of oil has been a fuctard for 10+ years. The explanation is simple. While you were out aggregating your doom porn for the day, I searched the peakoil.com archives.
marmico on Sat, 23rd Jan 2016 4:23 am
Strange, that marmi has a copy of your report short. I wonder who paid for it
Type “Depletion: A determination for world’s petroleum reserve” in your google search box and you don’t have to pay for it either. Understanding that the report fails the author’s own empirical test should be a high priority in your life long quest for the truth. 🙂
shortonoil on Sat, 23rd Jan 2016 8:29 am
“Boat,
QE to the economy would be liken to you taking out a third mortgage on your already bank owned home, to bye another Porsche, in order to keep up the appearances that your company is doing fine, when it is actually bankrupt. You Boat, would be one of the idiots investing in that already bankrupt company.”
Boat is doing so well, and a 151 hedge funds have already folded in the last year. That is downright incredible. He should be teaching MBA courses at Harvard.
shortonoil on Sat, 23rd Jan 2016 8:32 am
“Nah, just seeking evidence that the quart shy of oil has been a fuctard for 10+ years.”
Pretty good Marm, 10 cents already today. Another 18 posts and you’ve got yourself a bottom of Wild Irish Rose!
Boat on Sat, 23rd Jan 2016 8:53 am
short,
Several years ago during the crash the S&P 500 outperformed 70% of mutual funds. How is that for paying for brain power. Meanwhile Warren Buffett was investing billions.
Right now the herd is spooked. Must be time to invest. All time highs will be here soon enough.
GregT on Sat, 23rd Jan 2016 11:55 am
Boat,
Several years ago during the crash, the S&P 500 went from 1561.80 in Oct of 07, to 683.38 in Mar of 09. While it may have done better than 70% of all mutual funds, it performed dismally. Market fundamentals have not changed since 07, despite trillions of dollars in QE. The markets are due for a rather large correction, as they have been artificially blown up in into the largest bubble in all of history.
GregT on Sat, 23rd Jan 2016 12:06 pm
Can Anything Prevent a U.S. Stock Market Crash in 2016?
“Warren Buffett’s favorite indicator is the Market Cap to GDP Ratio, which, as the name implies, compares the total price of all publicly traded companies to gross domestic product (GDP), the implication being that stocks and their valuations should bear some relationship to the benefits of investing or not investing.
A reading of 100% suggests U.S. stocks are fairly valued. The higher the ratio is over 100%, the more overvalued the stock market. Conversely, the lower the ratio under 100% the more undervalued. The current reading is 123.6%. The ratio has only been higher once since 1950, in 1999, it was at an eye-watering 153.6%.
A variant of the Market Cap to GDP Ratio is the Wilshire 5000 to GDP. The Wilshire 5000 is a market cap weighted index of all stocks actively traded in the U.S. Despite the grandiose 5000 number, the index contains around 3,690 components. This variant is currently at 124.2%. Since 1970, the ratio has only been higher once; in 2000, when it stood at 136.5%. (Source: Stlouisfed.org, last accessed September 30, 2015.)
Buffett’s two indicators suggest today’s markets are at lofty, unsustainable levels; and that the U.S. economy is not doing nearly as well as we’re led to believe. And it’s only going to get worse.”
http://www.profitconfidential.com/stock-market/u-s-stock-market-crash-in-2016/
Boat on Sat, 23rd Jan 2016 1:32 pm
GregT,
That was the first post you have had that makes much sense for a long time. I agree with that assessment. It won’t change my investment strategy but I agree there was a downturn coming. The stock market and commodities live in cycles. Humans tend to overinvestment and underinvest witch exacerbate the swings.
GregT on Sat, 23rd Jan 2016 2:20 pm
Boat,
There is a much larger cycle playing out at the moment, human population overshoot.
Boat on Sat, 23rd Jan 2016 3:36 pm
GregT,
Duh. Glad you finally jumped on board with my immigration solution.
roman on Sun, 24th Jan 2016 5:08 pm
I discovered some dark hydrino matter in the toilet this morning. I smell a nobel prize.
GregT on Sun, 24th Jan 2016 5:15 pm
Boat,
Duh. Population overshoot is a planetary problem, and our species doesn’t have another one to immigrate to. Your supposed solution doesn’t solve anything at all.
More ignorance on your part.
Andrew Moore on Tue, 24th May 2016 1:03 pm
1) Is this a scam? I think this clearly does not fit the model of a scam. If Mills wanted to rip people of then he would not have hung around for 20 years, have an audited company and spent the money he raised on research. Anyone who says it is a scam is a complete idiot in my opinion.
2) IS the technology real? It appears to be, everything Mills says can be checked out and he has 3rd party validation. Also look at his board members and those who have been added from new investment rounds … these are serious people, NOT IDIOTS.
I suspect we will see a working prototype by the end of 2017. There does not appear to be much of a barrier to success now and Mills is primarily awaiting the concentrated PVC cells to be manufactured that will work well with his unit.
AntarticaDiscovery on Sat, 18th Feb 2017 8:29 pm
I agree with Andrew Moore. BrilliantLight Power have working devices which produce far more energy than they consume. Take a look at the validation reports on their web site.
makati1 on Sat, 18th Feb 2017 8:41 pm
Another techie wet dream. LMAO